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Letter to AAFP Leaders

Every day, we as family physicians draw on the passion that is at the heart of our profession to care for patients, communities and the health care system. We are family physicians, not providers, and we need to make that distinction absolutely clear! We treat the whole person, not a disease or a body part. We lead a team. We use high-touch skills and are leading the implementation of high-tech tools (such as EHR) to meet the needs of patients, communities and the health care system.

Today, caring for patients requires advocacy at every level. For AAFP, advocacy to support family physicians caring for patients and advocacy to re-engineer our dysfunctional health care system must be the all-encompassing priorities. Everything else we do as family physicians, including the mentoring of future family physicians, is dependent upon us changing the present system!

No political magic will fix the dysfunctional health care system. Payers will not spontaneously embrace Family Medicine. Our patients will look to us for solutions. We must give them guidance, not just as our patients but also as employers and citizens, to reach a system that rewards comprehensive, affordable care. Without compromising our core values, we must effect changes that allow patients, communities and the health care system to rediscover Family Medicine.

I will advocate for:

• A medical home payment framework that pays appropriately for the value of clinical and administrative services provided by family physicians and the teams we lead
• A national immunization program with adequate vaccine distribution and reasonable payment
• Financial incentives for appropriate clinical data reporting under physician-established guidelines
• Health information technology adoption with sufficient financial incentives to support the medical home model
• AAFP assistance for chapters involved with state health care reform initiatives and development of model state legislation
• Alliances with other professional associations, payer groups and patient advocacy groups who support our core values
• Universal coverage of medical home services beginning with children.

After 20 years in successful private practice, I have committed the remainder of my professional career to re-engineering the health care system for our patients and our communities. I pledge my experience, passion, courage and tenacity to work on your behalf as an AAFP Board member.